U.S. patent application number 13/567241 was filed with the patent office on 2012-11-29 for adapter.
Invention is credited to Sz-Lung HUANG.
Application Number | 20120301215 13/567241 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 47219329 |
Filed Date | 2012-11-29 |
United States Patent
Application |
20120301215 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
HUANG; Sz-Lung |
November 29, 2012 |
ADAPTER
Abstract
An adapter includes a main body, at least one jointer and at
least one screw. The main body is a hexahedron and has six
combining surfaces. Each of the combining surfaces is formed with
at least one threaded bore. The jointer is adapted for an extender
to connect thereto, and the jointer has an abutting surface to
attach to one of the combining surfaces. An area of the abutting
surface is not larger than an area of its corresponding combining
surface. The abutting surface has at least one through bore
corresponding to the at least one threaded bore. The screw is
extended through the through bore and threaded with the threaded
bore to detachably fix the jointer with the main body.
Inventors: |
HUANG; Sz-Lung;
(US) |
Family ID: |
47219329 |
Appl. No.: |
13/567241 |
Filed: |
August 6, 2012 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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12700722 |
Feb 5, 2010 |
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13567241 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
403/176 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47B 47/0016 20130101;
Y10T 403/347 20150115; F16B 12/50 20130101; F16B 7/185 20130101;
F16B 7/18 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
403/176 |
International
Class: |
F16B 7/18 20060101
F16B007/18 |
Claims
1. An adapter, comprising: a main body, being a hexahedron and
having six combining surfaces, each of the combining surfaces being
formed with at least one threaded bore; at least one jointer, being
adapted for an extender to connect thereto, the jointer being a
hollow polyhedron, the jointer having an abutting surface to attach
to one of the combining surfaces, an area of the abutting surface
being not larger than an area of its corresponding combining
surface, the abutting surface having at least one through bore
corresponding to the at least one threaded bore, the jointer also
having an open end opposite to the abutting surface, the abutting
surface being a rectangle, the jointer having four side walls
extending from edges of the abutting surface respectively, the four
side walls being perpendicular to the abutting surface, the jointer
forming a receiving room enclosed by the abutting surface and the
four side walls of the jointer, the through bore and the open end
communicating with the receiving room; and at least one screw,
entering the hollow jointer through the open end of the jointer and
being extended through the through bore and threaded with the
threaded bore to detachably fix the jointer with the main body,
wherein the jointer is received in the extender, and the extender
abuts against one of the combining surfaces of the main body.
2. The adapter of claim 1, wherein the jointer has four side
surfaces, at least one of the side surfaces is formed with at least
one threaded bore for the extender to threadedly connect
thereto.
3. The adapter of claim 1, wherein the main body is a regular
hexahedron.
Description
[0001] The present invention is a CIP of application Ser. No.
12/700,722, filed Feb. 5, 2010, the entire contents of which are
hereby incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art
[0004] Welding manner is commonly used to combine tubes of a frame.
Nevertheless, once the tubes are welded, they cannot be
disassembled easily. Besides, the welded surfaces are uneven and
darkened, and the welding touch is too dangerous for an untrained
user to weld the tubes on his own.
[0005] Some adapters are provided to simplify the combination
procedure, but conventional adapters usually have disadvantages of
complex structure, high cost and non-unified standard.
[0006] For instance, TW M295700 discloses an adapter for a
laboratory table. The adapter includes a main body being formed
with several cubical mounting portions on different surfaces of the
main body, so that tubes can mount with the mounting portions
respectively. However, adapters with different numbers of mounting
portion should be individually formed, which may lead to the
upsurge of the molding cost and the inconvenience to storage
adapters with different numbers of mounting portion. Also, if an
adapter with specific number of mounting portion is missing during
the combination procedure, the frame may not be successfully
assembled.
[0007] TW M349974 discloses another adapter. The adapter is adapted
to be directly installed on a tube, and another tube can,
therefore, be mounted with such adapter. To install the adapter on
the tube, several threaded bores should be drilled on the tube.
However, a drill is still too dangerous for an untrained user. To
precisely drill the threaded bores at correct positions is yet
another problem for the user. Also, side walls of such tubes will
be damaged due to the drilling. As such, even if the tubes can be
disassembled, they will have authentic defects that may not satisfy
the user's need.
[0008] EP 0344120 A1 discloses that a washer (not a jointer) to be
sandwiched between a furniture part and a cube. The furniture part
is a solid rod member and abuts against the washer but not against
the cube. The washer is not received in the furniture part, the
furniture part and cube are connected via a long and thin pin, and
the washer is smaller than the furniture part and cube in size,
such that the structural strength of the combination thereof is
poor.
[0009] FR 2667656-A1 discloses that a jointer has a open side for
disposing plural bolts therein, and each of the bolts is mounted
into the jointer with its head portion blocked by and abutted
against the inner wall surface and its threaded portion extending
through one of a through bore, such that it is impossible to secure
a tubular member or an extender to the open side of the jointer (as
shown in FIG. 4 of FR 2667656-A1). Besides, a flexible and
deformable material is disposed between a washer and the jointer,
and the flexible and deformable material is deformed broadside
against the inner sidewall of a tube (as shown in FIG. 7 of FR
2667656-A1). Since the tube and the jointer are combined via the
flexible and deformable material, the connection thereof is
unstable and the structural strength of the combination thereof is
poor.
[0010] Therefore, the present invention is arisen to obviate or at
least mitigated the above-mentioned disadvantages.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0011] The main object of the present invention is to provide a
simplified adapter that can be easily assembled.
[0012] To achieve the above and other objects, an adapter of the
present invention includes a main body, at least one jointer and at
least one screw. The main body is a hexahedron and has six
combining surfaces. Each of the combining surfaces is formed with
at least one threaded bore. The jointer is adapted for an extender
to connect thereto, and the jointer has an abutting surface to
attach to one of the combining surfaces. An area of the abutting
surface is not larger than an area of its corresponding combining
surface. The abutting surface has at least one through bore
corresponding to the at least one threaded bore. The screw is
extended through the through bore and threaded with the threaded
bore to detachably fix the jointer with the main body. The jointer
is received in the extender, and the extender abuts against one of
the combining surfaces of the main body.
[0013] Thereby, the user can freely assemble the extenders into
desired figure with the help of the adapters of the present
invention. The extenders can still be disassembled, and the
adapters can be recycled. Due to the single standard of the main
body, the adapter can be used in various occasions. That is, the
adapter of the present invention has advantages such as low cost,
easy operability and high degree of freedom of combination.
[0014] The present invention will become more obvious from the
following description when taken in connection with the
accompanying drawings, which show, for purpose of illustrations
only, the preferred embodiment(s) in accordance with the present
invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0015] FIG. 1 is a breakdown drawing showing a first embodiment of
the present invention assembled with extenders;
[0016] FIG. 2 is a combination drawing showing a first embodiment
of the present invention assembled with extenders;
[0017] FIG. 3 is a breakdown drawing showing a first embodiment of
the present invention;
[0018] FIG. 4 is a combination drawing showing a first embodiment
of the present invention;
[0019] FIG. 5 is a breakdown drawing showing a first embodiment of
the present invention assembled with extenders;
[0020] FIG. 6 is a partial breakdown drawing showing a first
embodiment of the present invention assembled with extenders;
[0021] FIG. 7 is a combination drawing showing a first embodiment
of the present invention assembled with extenders;
[0022] FIG. 8 is a partial breakdown drawing showing a second
embodiment of the present invention assembled with extenders;
[0023] FIG. 9 is a breakdown drawing showing a third embodiment of
the present invention assembled with extenders;
[0024] FIG. 10 is a partial breakdown drawing showing a third
embodiment of the present invention assembled with extenders;
[0025] FIG. 11 is a partial breakdown drawing showing a second
embodiment of the present invention assembled with extenders;
[0026] FIG. 12 is a partial breakdown drawing showing a second
embodiment of the present invention assembled with extenders.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0027] Please refer to FIG. 1 to FIG. 4 for the first embodiment of
the present invention. The adapter of the present embodiment
includes a main body 10, at least one jointer 20 and at least one
screw 30.
[0028] The main body 10 is a hexahedron and has six combining
surfaces 11. Preferably, the main body 10 is a regular hexahedron.
Each of the combining surfaces 11 is formed with at least one
threaded bore 12.
[0029] The jointer 20 is adapted for an extender, such as a tube 40
to connect thereto. In this embodiment, the jointer 20 is received
in the extender, and the extender abuts against one of the
combining surfaces 11 of the main body 10. The number of the
jointer 20 corresponds to that of the tube 40 to be assembled. The
jointer 20 has an abutting surface 21 to attach to one of the
combining surfaces 11. An area of the abutting surface 21 is not
larger than an area of its corresponding combining surface 11. The
abutting surface 21 has at least one through bore 22 corresponding
to the threaded bore 12. The number of the through bore 22 of an
abutting surface 21 is preferably equal to that of the threaded
bore 12 of its corresponding combining surface 11. In the present
embodiment, the jointer 20 is a hollow polyhedron, and the jointer
20 has an open end opposite to the abutting surface 21. The
abutting surface 21 is a rectangle, preferably a square. The
jointer 20 has four rectangular side walls extending from edges of
the abutting surface 21 respectively, and the four side walls are
perpendicular to the abutting surface 21. The jointer 20 forms a
receiving room enclosed by the abutting surface 21 and four side
walls of the jointer 20, and the through bore 22 and the open end
communicate with the receiving room. Further, the tube 40 has a
tetragon bore 41 corresponding to the contour of the jointer 20 so
that the tube 40 can mount with the jointer 20. Preferably, the
outer surfaces of the tube 40 flush with the main body once the
tube 40 mounts with the jointer 20. Side surfaces 23 of the jointer
20 abut against the inner side surfaces of the tube 40.
[0030] The number of the screw 30 corresponds to that of the
threaded bore 12. The screw 30 is extended through the through bore
22 and then threaded with the threaded bore 12 to detachably fix
the jointer 20 with the main body 10. Preferably, the screw 30
enters the receiving room through the open end of the jointer 20
and is extended in the through bore 22.
[0031] In the present invention, the jointer 20 is received in the
extender (the tube 40), all the side surfaces 23 of the jointer 20
can abut against the inner side surfaces of the extender, and the
extender abuts against one of the combining surfaces 11 of the main
body 10, which can enhance the structural strength of the
combination of the jointer 20 and the extender.
[0032] As shown in FIG. 5 to FIG. 7, each and every combination
surface 11' of the main body 10' is attached with a tube 40. That
is, six jointers 20' are needed and are attached to the combination
surfaces 11' respectively. Thus the combination procedure can be
finished easily.
[0033] The tube 40 and the jointer 20 can be fixed and mounted with
each other by friction. Or, the jointer of the second embodiment of
the present invention has four side surfaces 23', at least one of
which is formed with at least one threaded bore 231, as shown in
FIG. 8. The tube 40' is also formed with through bores 42, so that
screws 50 can insert through the through bores 42 and be threaded
with the threaded bores 231 respectively. The through bores 42 and
the threaded bores 231 are preferably formed by the manufacturer.
Thus the drilling process is not necessary when the user assembles
the tubes with the adapters.
[0034] Please refer to FIG. 9 and FIG. 10 for a third embodiment of
the present invention. The jointer 20'' is a hollow cylinder, and
the extender is a cylindrical tube 40''. That is to say, the main
body 10' is adapted for extenders with different shapes by choosing
jointers with desired shapes. Thus the main body 10' can still have
single standard which can lower the molding cost. Further, the
cylinder jointer 20'' has a side surface 23'' surrounding the
abutting surface 21', and the side surface 23'' can also be formed
with threaded bores for the extender to threadedly connect
thereto.
[0035] In the present invention, the shape of the extender is
variable. For instance, the extender can simply be two plates fixed
together as shown in FIG. 11, or the extender may be formed with a
longitudinal groove at one side surface thereof, as shown in FIG.
12.
[0036] It is to be noted that one of the combining surface of the
main body can be slanted to its adjacent combining surfaces, such
that an extender attached on that surface can be slanted with
respect to the other extenders.
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